BMW, General Motors, and all major car makers are marketing electric and hybrid cars that use batteries. Tesla and Panasonic are selling back-up batteries for use in homes and commercial buildings. We are entering the age of the battery. Does that increasing battery production mean that this is a great time to start buying up scrapped batteries and recycling them? The answers to that question are surprising. Here are some things you need to know...

Someone called one of our expert consultants at 800-426-2344 last week and asked, “Is lithium a precious metal?” He had a lot of old printed-circuit boards that had batteries attached to them and was wondering if he would get paid for the lithium that they contained if he sent them in to be recycled.